Apple v. Samsung Preliminary Injunction Documents Denied Filing Under Seal Due to “Exceptionally Strong Public Interest”

The court denied without prejudice the parties' applications to file documents related to a motion for preliminary injunction under seal where there was an exceptionally strong public interest. "As evidenced by the plethora of media and general public scrutiny of the preliminary injunction proceedings, the public has a significant interest in these court filings, and therefore the strong presumption of public access applies. . . . [T]he exceptionally strong public interest in the preliminary injunction proceedings in this case merits imposition of the heightened 'compelling reasons' standard that governs the sealing of documents attached to dispositive motions or submitted in trial. . . . While much of the information that the parties sought to file under seal in connection with [plaintiff's] motion for preliminary injunction and [defendant's] motion to stay [pending appeal] may be sealable under the more pliant 'good cause' standard, hardly any of it, save for the exception of some limited third-party source code, satisfies the more stringent 'compelling reasons' standard. Moreover, much of the information may become public in the [related] trial."

Apple Inc. v. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., et. al., 5-12-cv-00630 (CAND July 18, 2012, Order) (Koh, J.).